[General Discussion] Sandbox Games - Too Much Freedom?

I’m not too familiar with the term, “sandbox game” for these Grand-Theft-Auto like games, but I think it’s a nice descriptive niche term. As much as it’s fun to explore an “alterative” reality and do as you please, I find it gets boring after a while since I prefer to have a motivator or a reason to the game. I guess this is why I spend a majority of my time playing the missions rather than going exploring on my own. I do explore around, mind you, as I like to appreciate all the details which are placed around the world even though they are not part of the main attraction.

I’m not too familiar with other games which follow this “sandbox” formula, but so far I’ve found GTA3 and San Andreas to provide a well executed “roam-on-your-own” experience, I’ve never played Vice City, but I’ll assume it’s pretty much akin to these other GTA games. Could you please provide more examples of these “do anything, anywhere” type games? I guess I’m restricting myself to the GTA series.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Enter User Name

http://www.answers.com/topic/sandbox-videogames

It mentioned Mercenaries as a sandbox type game. I'm wanting to give this game a try sometime as the military tone to it along with free roaming seems pretty neat.

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